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Some youngsters who are frustrated and disappointed in life, and are pushed into hopelessness and despair, may take to the evil ways of terrorism.
Idleness can make us feel useless. When you’re not engaged in activity, your mind tends to overthink meaningless things or not analyse at all. You may be drawn to negative thinking, gossiping, and wasting time. When you occupy your mind with work or hobbies or, most importantly, thoughts of God, it can keep your mind free of negative ideas and desires.
I feel in our mind there is a constant production of thoughts. These thoughts are scattered just like a garden of thoughts. I am comparing our mind with the garden because if you have a garden around your house then you know how much labour is involved in its maintenance. Well, we need to put in mental labour to maintain our garden of thoughts. The way we clean our backyard garden by pulling out the weeds is the same way we need to clean our mental garden. Bad thoughts will creep in and if left unattended may choke off the good thoughts. Our God-centric thinking can protect us from Satanic thoughts. Satan is constantly working to plant impure and ugly thoughts in our mind. Therefore, it should become our priority to defend our mental garden from these bad thoughts and Satan’s attack. Whenever we feel low or mentally depressed, immediately turn to God for help.
[23:97-98] Say, “My Lord, I seek refuge in You from the whispers of the devils. And I seek refuge in You, my Lord, lest they come near me.”
The unwanted weeds and useless plants can spoil the healthy and good plants; in the same way the half information or the wrong information also spoils our mental garden. To defend it from these dangerous ideas and misinformation we should seek God.
[3:28] The believers never ally themselves with the disbelievers, instead of the believers. Whoever does this is exiled from GOD. Exempted are those who are forced to do this to avoid persecution. GOD alerts you that you shall reverence Him alone. To GOD is the ultimate destiny.
In the previous verse God warns us about the consequences of allying with the disbelievers. They are the allies of Satan. If we do not keep away from them then God will banish us from His protection. May God save us from such situations.
We need to constantly keep a vigil on our souls to not waver from the path of God. God gave us the power of hearing, the eyesight and the brain to use in the proper way. In fact, these are strong tools to defend ourselves from evil thoughts. If we fail to do so, we will land ourselves in big trouble.
[3:30] The day will come when each soul will find all the good works it had done brought forth. As for the evil works, it will wish that they were far, far removed. GOD alerts you that you shall reverence Him alone. GOD is Compassionate towards the people.
Satan challenged God that he will attack the human being from all directions to distract him from the right path (7:16-17). God gave him the liberty to exploit those who follow him (15:42) . Therefore, we must nourish our souls with good thoughts and always strive hard to do good deeds. Just like pests that destroy the good fruits of the garden, bad friends also destroy our mental garden by invading it with hatred and anger (3:118-120).
We know that plants prepare food with the help of sunlight. The process is known as photosynthesis. Our thoughts also need light from God to become healthy. Let us seek God’s light in the form of logical and rational thinking.
[24:35] GOD is the light of the heavens and the earth…. Light upon light. GOD guides to His light whomever He wills.
GOD thus cites the parables for the people. GOD is fully aware of all things.
[2:257] GOD is Lord of those who believe; He leads them out of darkness into the light.
God leads us out of darkness by His light of knowledge, wisdom and understanding. Let us not miss this opportunity and use it intensely. If we race towards the light of God, then Satan and his companions cannot put it out. God ensures its brightness.
[9:32] They want to put out GOD’s light with their mouths, but GOD insists upon perfecting His light, in spite of the disbelievers.
The human mind should always be filled with noble thoughts and ideas that are productive and useful. We want to get rid of evil thoughts and deeds. We must not forget the effects of idleness and not let our minds become the devil’s workshop. We must keep God foremost in our thoughts. This practice will yield good results in the long run. Just like a good fertile piece of land produces good fruits, the God-centric mind will also produce noble thoughts.
[7:58] The good land readily produces its plants by the leave of its Lord, while the bad land barely produces anything useful. We thus explain the revelations for people who are appreciative
We can choose to focus on important things, righteous deeds and things that benefit us and others. Eliminating negative thoughts, unimportant things and fantasies that sometimes dwell in our mind should be our priority. Our ultimate goal should be to attain Paradise. Just as a garden can produce food to feed a family, in the same way our garden of good thoughts can reap huge benefits for us in the Hereafter, if we maintain it in the proper manner. Our ultimate goal must be to please God and become winners in the Hereafter.
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